It is now official. Why don’t they just remove the fold button altogether? Nobody folds online anyway, right? I am being more than a bit sarcastic when I say that but I do find it amusing that so many obvious fold situations players are no longer laying down. For instance: Last night I am playing in a large multi-table. I have pocket eights in middle position. Their is a standard raise in front of me and I decide to call. There are now 3 players in the pot and the pot comes down [5][9][4] rainbow. One player folds immediately and the raises makes a huge bet being short stacked. Not for one second did I believe this guy had a big pair. I knew this based on how much he was raising earlier when he did have big hands.

Anyway, I re-raise him all-in with my pocket eights putting him on [A]{J] to [A][K]. He turns over [A][5] and has bottom pair. Great!

NOPE!

He hits an Ace on the turn and it’s off to the rail I go. All I could do is laugh. True isn’t only a $10 buy-in but I fail to see the logic in that play. You would think at worst when I came over the top he knew he was beat. On the other hand I suppose he could justify it by being pretty much pot committed at that point too. In any event I always assume I am going to get called online. No big deal in the large scope of things. Just needed to vent.

Still smiling!

You asked for it and now you got it! Full Tilt Poker now offers Rush Poker tournaments. The boom continues as the players refused to relent in demanding Rush Poker tournaments. Now Full Tilt has given them what they want. The announcement came down yesterday and the response has been outstanding from the jump. The format is just a little different than we are used to when it gets down to 10 players though. The play will continue with four-handed play as players are rotated in and out until the field plays down to heads up. There is no hand-to-hand play as in normal tournaments and no bubble either. When the field is down to 28 players tables will play with 7 players each until the field plays down to the final 10.

A little different format than we are used to. Adjustments will need to be made in play but all in all it is still a great idea and will likely do very well.

The Final Table reverts to the normal final table you see and is also the only way you can observe a Rush Poker tournament. Sounds like fun!

Since we last talked I have been extremely busy as you probably have noticed. In any event most of those tasks have been addressed and I can get back to blogging a lot more regularly. The last time we talked I was in the midst of my new conversion to UB poker. Since then I have made 2 more final tables in large multi-table events with 200+ players. I have also been able to climb my way up to Step 5 of the WSOP Main Event ladder. Surprisingly this has been a lot of fun. My previous step experience on PokerStars was like running on a treadmill being knocked back every couple of steps to the point where I simply gave up. This time around has been different. I have both played well and gotten lucky at just the right times. I have only been knocked back once. That is a testimony to my being a better player than I was four years ago for sure. Mistakes and bad plays that I don’t have to make is why I am getting there as much as I should be getting there. I also took down a 3rd place in a 137 player tournament last week too.

Overall, the experience on UB has been what I had anticipated. I expected to cash a lot more and make many more final tables on the same volume of play. Ultimately for me that means larger cashes and more profit. I know a lot of you are wondering how the competition is on UB. Well, in my opinion the UB players are better than the “average” Pokerstars player.

Why?

Because they play small pots and do not automatically fold when they miss the flop or their opponent makes a small bet. Conversely, on Pokerstars you see a lot of pre-flop all-in’s and large raises. That kind of play does happen on UB but not nearly as often as on Pokerstars. I also think the luck factor is lower because people don’t make the same kinds of calls in bad spots as often. When you out play someone you have earned the pot on UB. I had a few adjustments I have made since joining in January but nothing major. I am running quite good and expect to win this WSOP seat.

Curtis III

UB recently announced that they are canceling the Aruba Poker Classic to focus on launching their new $500k weekly guaranteed tournaments. This is good news as it marks the beginning of a new serious of tournaments along with another does of the UB Online Championships that have been so popular. UB is planning on holding the Online Championships twice a year now which puts them on par with similar series on Pokerstars and Full Tilt. UB has also indicated that they will continue to qualify players for major land based tournaments such as the WPT and WSOP.

This is my latest post on Oz Poker. I hope you enjoy it.
Curtis III

Agony of Going Deep | Australian Online Poker | Oz Poker – Australian Poker.

I am sure everyone is wondering how things have been since I moved over to Ultimate Bet. To put it mildly things have been great and I am running ridiculously good right now. I recently took down a single table and ran deep again for my second cash in the nightly $10 dollar which usually has 650 or so entries. I finished 16th and 26th respectively and was bad beat out of both poker tournaments.

I also final tabled a smaller 57 entry tournament for a very nice cash and took down 5th place. Basically all of the reasons I gave you guys for my leaving PokerStars have been reinforced even more. My starting bankroll has more than doubled already and I only play tournaments and single tables. Again, the difference being that UB has smaller fields giving me much better percentages to make and take down final tables. The best is yet to come!

Yes, it’s that time again. I will be playing in the Majestic Star Deep Stacks poker tournament this coming weekend in Indiana. The tournament usually has around 70 players. The structure has 30 minute levels and starts you out with $9000 chips and $50 / $25 blinds. Its about time for me to break through to the final table having bubbled twice in five tries. I’m looking forward to it!

If you hadn’t noticed already ESPN is now broadcasting the WSOPE Main Event Championship and it has been a blast to watch. The tournament is still in the early stages and nothing too dramatic has taken place but it has been a lot of fun watching Brunson, Obrestad, Bloch and many others go at it on the TV table. So be sure to tune in. Here is the upcoming broadcast schedule:

Sunday, February 14th: 11:00pm ET
Monday, February 15th: 12:00am ET
Monday, February 15th: 1:00am ET
Sunday, February 28th: 9:00pm ET
Sunday, February 28th: 10:00pm ET

Enjoy!

The 2010 WSOP schedule has been announced.There will be 57 bracelet events this time around which is the same as last year. The WSOP will run from May 27th through July 17th. In a twist on the past two years the Chip Reese memorial H.O.R.S.E. event will be the first event open to all comers. The H.O.R.S.E. event still has the lofty $50k buy-in but this time will be televised unlike last season. It has also been re-named to the “Players Championship.”

Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same as last year. Unfortunately there will be another delayed final table.

Now that all of the hoopla is over and the hams and turkeys are long gone I can look back on this past week with a smile. I ran ridiculously good and my bankroll is extremely happy about it. I took 2nd place in a large multi-table tournament and cashed in several others. Also, I caught some really good cards at the right time and they held up. All the skill in the world doesn’t mean too much if your hands are not holding up but I certainly didn’t have that problem.  The next live poker tournament I will be playing will be at the Majestic Star casino. They are having a Winter Deep Stacks Challenge in another week or so and I will be there ready to go.

I hope that everyone is enjoying success with their poker games or at least moving towards the goals that they have set for 2009. Remember, we still have a few weeks left to hit those 2009 goals.

Good luck!

If you haven’t heard about it Joe Sebok just inked a deal with Ultimate Bet. You may have read some of my previous posts about the non-sense that was taking place over there a few years back with all of the cheating scandals. I don’t want to get into the gory details as most of you are already aware of what happened. I read the article Joe was featured on in Bluff Magazine and it was very insightful.  From my perspective this is an extremely important step that Ultimate Bet had to make. Their reputation was in the mud and they had either let go of or lost a lot of pros with all of the drama and doubt from the cheating scandal. I said a while back that until they actually admitted they were wrong and made some serious management changes nothing would change.

Well sure enough Joe Sebok is now “Media and Operations Consultant” for the “new” Ultimate Bet online poker room. When I first heard about this I questioned Seboks’ sanity. However, after reading Seboks’ reasoning I have to commend him for this move. Sebok is in a can’t lose scenario. If UB fails everyone will say it was going to fold anyway because the cheating scandal was just too much. If UB succeeds Sebok is hailed as a hero (rightly so). I say that with the belief that Joe Sebok is serious about this enough to put his name on the product. To me that means he is going to do everything in his power to make the changes necessary and bring credibility back to the site.

Sebok indicated that he has visited the UB offices in Costa Rica and spoken with the operations staff and security face to face. That has got to be a good thing. He also has a few things that he wants to get accomplished while in this post. I won’t give away the entire article but it is certainly worth a read.

True, he won’t be able to win over everyone and that is understandable. However, if he can find a way to turn around the debacle that was UB just a few years ago he will have made one of the smartest business decisions of his young life.

Good luck Joe.

It took 88 hands for Joe Cada to defeat Darvin Moon heads-up for the bracelet. Cada is now the youngest main event world series of poker winner in history. Cada also takes down $8.5 million dollars in prize money for his efforts. Hopefully Cada puts the money to good use and does not gamble it all away. At this point he is literally set for life if he manages his money properly.

Good luck and well done to Joe Cada!

After a marathon session last night Darvin Moon and Joe Cada emerged as the two that will battle it out for the $8.5 million dollar first prize and the title of 2009 WSOP Main Event bracelet winner. Joe Cada fought back from nowhere after being down to $2 million in chips at one point. He was on life support and managed to hang around long enough to rebuild his stack and catch a few hands. Cada did a fantastic job and he got lucky when he needed too as well.

Darvin Moon had his ups and downs especially early on but he too managed to fight back from being short at one point. I am going to give the edge to Joe Cada in the heads-up match. Unless Moon catches some cards I don’t see him out playing this kind.

Phil Ivey busted out of the 2009 main event final table in seventh place this evening. Ivey got his money in good holding Ace King versus Darvin Moons Ace Queen. Moon hit a queen on the flop and there was no help on the turn or river for Phil Ivey. The championship bracelet run is over. I am sure Phil will shrug it off as usual but it has to sting to run this far and then take a beat like that. Maybe next time. Ivey takes hom a $1.4 million dollar pay day. Ivey busted out 7th at WSOP final table.

The 2009 Main Event is now down to seven players. Phil Ivey has pretty much been stuck in neutral all day long at $10 million. However, Buchman has built his stack to $52 million and is now second to Darvin Moons $59 million. There is plenty of action left. I will post a little later.